


Misplaced

by Skyliaskye



Series: Born To be Wild [1]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Character Study, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Wild (Linked Universe)-centric, ramble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:20:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27677282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyliaskye/pseuds/Skyliaskye
Summary: Link felt misplaced.Scratch that -that isn’t his name right now-Wildfelt misplaced.And, oh, isn’t that ironic?The only thing he’s ever felt familiar with, ever felt like itbelonged, and he can’t even use it anymore.But he gets it.There’s eight other Links, him himself making it nine. It wouldn’t be fair for him to be the only ‘Link’ there, when there are others (andgoddoes that mess with his head, there are others like him-) who deserves it more (way,waymore).So yeah, he gets it.
Series: Born To be Wild [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2023901
Comments: 2
Kudos: 206





	Misplaced

Link felt misplaced.

Scratch that -that isn’t his name right now- _Wild_ felt misplaced.

And, oh, isn’t that ironic?

The only thing he’s ever felt familiar with, ever felt like it _belonged_ , and he can’t even use it anymore.

But he gets it. 

There’s eight other Links, him himself making it nine. It wouldn’t be fair for him to be the only ‘Link’ there, when there are others (and _god_ does that mess with his head, there are others like him-) who deserves it more (way, _way_ more). 

So yeah, he gets it. 

But that doesn’t mean it can’t make his skin crawl every time he hears the word ‘Wild’, because it does, he won’t fault himself for this. His skin crawls with an eagerness to spread through his body, sending a deep, ugly dread that eats at him slowly- _mockingly_. 

Because all he had known to be was Link. To the princess, to the Sheikah, to Sidon, to everyone he had ever known (and to his past self from all those years ago, even more.) 

Link, who woke up alone, without a single memory and nothing but the Sheikah slate and the echo of her voice, guiding him through a world he knew nothing about.

Link, who encompassed the ability to protect, and did so willingly (he could feel deep down that he’d lay down his life for the land he was on and the people who inhabited it, and did so more than once.) 

Link, who’s memories were once nothing, had built them back up, one by one. 

Link, his name. 

His _identity_.

But he still gets it- still gets the idea that he isn’t special, that he shouldn’t be so selfish when the people in front of him had their own experiences with the same name. 

So he stays quiet about it. 

The ugly feeling of dread is quieter on the good days. 

On the good days, he’s usually away from the commotion of the group, situated on look-out duty, or scavenging for food. He’d be tucked away, hidden among the grass, or high above in the trees, hands shifting between the loose earth and feeling like he was home. 

He doesn’t mind it as much if the others call him ‘Wild’ during those times, no, not really. 

On those days, he feels _wild_ enough to be _‘Wild’_.

It’s worse on the bad days though. 

Tucked between the others, their presence almost overbearing, on the bad days, Link suffocates. 

His clothes latch onto him like desperate hands, clawing at his body with every step (Weren’t they tailored to fit his body? Why, why does it hurt so much?). 

His hands buzz numbly, trembling and soaked with the feeling of wrongness (how were these the hands the same ones that sealed the darkness away? That grasped the handle of the legendary sword and pierced the veil of darkness and the evil within?) 

He breathed short and quietly as he would walk, and his body was able to maneuver in a way that he envied when he fought (how is it that his body remembered more about his past life that he himself?)

On the bad days, he’s heart squeezes like there’s a clamp twisting within his chest every time he hears the word that they gave him, that he accepted with a bitter taste in his mouth as they smiled at him as if they had solved him like a _puzzle_. 

Link tried not to think about that too much, but it was hard when the trigger was his apparent name. 

So yeah, 'Wild' felt misplaced.

Could you blame him?

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully going to start a series about little rambles I feel I want to address! (Also a mix of my little au I made a looong while ago)


End file.
